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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-04760.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-04760
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Title
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B-52 Raid Is Biggest Since '45; B-52 Raid Sets Record
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Description
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Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about the largest United States bombing raid since the bombing over Nagasaki, pages 1 and 14
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AI Usage Disclosure
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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.
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Transcript
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- Page 1
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B-52 Raid
Is Biggest
Since '45
By Beverly Deepe
Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
The gigantic B-52 bomber
raid dropping 625 tons of
bombs over North Viet Nam
yesterday was the biggest,
most powerful combat raid
since the atomic bomb was
dropped on Nagasaki 21 years
ago, United States Air Force
officials said here.
"We had nothing to match
th in a single raid in the
Kean War, in terms of ton-
nage and nothing thus far
in Viet Nam," one American
Air Force official explained.
The B-52 bombers were re-
cently modified to take an
increased payload of 30 tons.
Each plane can carry 84 500-
pound bombs inside and 24
750-pound bombs under the
wings. During World War II
a B-17 Flying Fortress, flying
on a 1,000-mile round trip,
could carry eight 500-pound
bombs, or a payload of two
tons.
ESCALATION
The raid by the giant
Stratofortress jets was im-
mediately regarded here as
the first move in a continuing
escalation of military pres-
sure on North Viet Nam.
"This raid was south of
Vinh," one informed political
source said. "Next you'll see
the SAM (surface-to-air mis-
siles) sites taken out further
north and then you'll see the
bigger bombing runs moving
further north."
[Hanoi protested today
against the B-52 raid, the
Associated Press reported. The
North Viet Nam News Agency,
in a broadcast monitored in
Tokyo, said the protest, made
in a note to the International
Control Commission in Viet
Nam, called the raid "a new
step in the escalation of the
war.J
American officials, speaking
privately, attempted to play
down the significance of the
air strike by arguing that it
More on B-52s-P 14
New York Herald Tribune
B-52 Raid Sets Record
(Continued from page one)
was simply a means to close
permanently a mountain pass
in which five raids by F-105
Thunderchiefs had virtually
failed.
But sources close to the
Vietnamese high command
regarded yesterday's raid as
an attempt to increase in one
lightning blow the military
pressure as a means to drive.
North Viet Nam to the nego-
tiating table.
Other political sources re-
garded the massive raid as a
counterbalance to the growing
political vacuum in South
Viet Nam.
"The big bombing raid is
only rationale for an Ameri-
can policy," one Vietnamese
politician explained. "The
Americans hit the North when
they were losing in the South.
And they slam on the military
pressure when they are losing
politically in Saigon.
The political vacuum was
considered to have increased
yesterday in Saigon on at
least two counts. They are:
The realization-long su-
spected that the American
government was slowly with-
drawing its support from
Premier Nguyen Cao Ky, who
was embraced by President
Johnson at the Honolulu con-
ference less than two months
ago.
"The American position is
quite clear," one Western dip-
lomat explained. "Their policy
is not to become so involved
with one individual (namely
Ky) that they go down the
drain with him."
Premier Ky's opening of
a political conference of var-
ious political and religious
factions was regarded here as
"disappointing," if not a
failure. The militant Bud-
dhists, considered to be Com-
munist infiltrated, who have
been attempting to topple his
government, boycotted the
meeting.
Of the 170 expected mem-
bers, only 92 showed up at the
opening. Later in the day, one
prominent politicion moved
that the conference be dis-
solved-and the attendance
dropped to 70.
The official American an-
nouncements that the John-
would
son administration
support a government elected
soon by the people also drew
critical comments.
"The Americans are delud-
ing themselves into thinking
that a popularly elected gov-
ernment will help out in the
South," one American source
explained.
"Democracy has never been
established in wartime. Even
America and Britain dimin-
ished democracy during
World War II, with price ra-
tioning and drafting, because
one must have control. You
can't develop democracy
during a war-it runs counter
to the face of history.
"The Americans are moving
toward the brink," he con-
tinued, "yet they say it's not
dangerous to go to the brink.
This is a very strange situa-
tion we can have a collapse
of the government and the
anti-Communist
whole
effort."
war
The American source, who
has seen many crises come
and go in Viet Nam, con-
tinued: "This is the worst
crisis here in 10 years.
"This whole crisis is a very
weird thing-like a perverse
death-wish."
Thant Confirms
Huu Meeting
By Darius S. Jhabvala
Of The Herald Tribune Staff
UNITED NATIONS.
UN Secretary General U
W
Thant yesterday confirmed a
report published in the Herald
Tribune that he had held a
private meeting with Tran
Van Huu, a former Premier of
South Viet Nam.
The report quoted Mr.
Thant's spokesman as saying
"no comment" to questions
on the meeting. But yesterday,
the spokesman, in answering
queries about the Herald Trib-
une story, said: "Mr. Thant
had seen Mr. Tran Van Huu
at the latter's request on April
7. They discussed Viet Nam."
The spokesman refused to
reveal any details about the
conversation, or even whether
Mr. Thant had scheduled an-
other meeting with Mr. Huu.
The former Vietnamese
leader, who I was exiled to
Paris by the late Premier Ngo
Dinh Diem, slipped into New
York on April 5 without the
knowledge of U. S. or South
Vietnamese Mission officials.
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Date
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1966, Apr. 13
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Aerial operations; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--United States. Air Force; Bombings, aerial; B-52 bomber
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Location
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Saigon, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6311
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Container
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B4, F6
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Format
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newspaper clippings
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
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Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
